New York State’s highest court ruled yesterday that the Roman Catholic Church and other religious organizations must abide by a state law that requires most employee health insurance policies to cover the cost of contraception.
The 6-to-0 decision by the Court of Appeals upheld rulings by the State Supreme Court and the Appellate Division, and left intact the state’s Women’s Health and Wellness Act of 2002, which requires company health insurance policies that provide coverage for prescription drugs to include “coverage for the cost of contraceptive drugs or devices.”
The suit, brought by 10 religious organizations (8 Catholic and 2 Baptist), argued that the Women's Health and Wellness act violated their religious freedom by forcing them to act contrary to their beliefs.
The act makes exceptions for religious employers, which are defined as religious organizations serving members of their own faith either exclusively or primarily. It does not, however, recognize hospitals, Catholic Charities, or other ad publicum organizations as "religious employers" because they intentionally employ and serve a diverse cross-section of people, many of whom do not espouse their particular brands of belief. "Religious employer" was originally defined so narrowly on purpose. During its formulation "[t]hose favoring a narrower exemption asserted that [a] broader one would deprive tens of thousands of women employed by church-affiliated organizations of contraceptive coverage" (Kaiser Network)
In the ruling the judges acknowledged that the plaintiffs felt contraception to be sinful, but added that "We must weigh against (their) interests in adhering to the tenets of their faith the state's substantial interest in fostering equality between the sexes, and in providing women with better health care." (Kaiser) Later in the decision, the judges note that legislators had intended the law advance both women's health and inequality, citing a study which showed that women paid 68% more healthcare out-of-pocket expenses than men, primarily for reproductive services. (NY Times)
The churches promise to appeal, on the basis that they take offense at being forced to obey a law with which they disagree (as if anyone likes following laws with which they disagree), and plan to make the secularization of their organizations the issue. They also insist that this isn't about women's health or equality of reproductive choice at all, but about eventually forcing churches to pay for abortions. Just like forcing them to live in the same cities with homosexuals will eventually end heterosexuality, forcing churches to marry gay couples and precipitating the end of civilization.
Because that's what women really want, not authority and control over their own procreation, but the end of civilization. It's our super-secret agenda. Bwahahaha.
What these people miss, of course, is the fact that by opening a hospital or school to the public, they subject themselves to this law. If they don't want to follow it, all they have to do is restrict their clientele to other Catholics or Baptists. That might cut into their profits, but what is money in the face of God?
They must decide which master to serve, and if it is Caesar, they must render unto him that which is his.
